Foreign Ministry Rips UN's 'One-Issue' Pillay

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a scathing broadside Thursday against the UN's High Commissioner of Human Rights, Navi Pillay, following a statement by her office regarding the demolition of illegal Bedouin structures.

"Once again, Ms. Pillay, via a statement issued by the High Commissioner's spokesperson on 24 September 2013 has published a misconceived, inaccurate and misleading statement, illustrating the institutionalized, dysfunctional, and hypocritical stance of the High Commissioner of Human Rights towards Israel," the MFA wrote.

"Ms. Pillay has yet again demonstrated her obsessive Israel-bashing by dedicating, once more, a section of her press brief to Israel while failing to make mention of significant atrocities committed by nation states, taking place across the globe.

"The High Commissioner for Human Rights has been bequeathed a mandate, which, if deployed correctly, should be able to shift perspectives and serve an important role in the betterment of the world.

"Regrettably, one can only conceive of all the global victims of human rights violations, and how their interests could be better represented, if Ms. Pillay spent just a fraction of her time focusing on their plight, rather than reiterating daily reminders relating to Israel. She is setting herself to become, regrettably, a one-issue Commissioner."

The attack was in response to a statement by the UN's human rights office that "urged Israeli authorities to halt the recent wave of demolitions of Bedouin structures, noting the destruction of this property violates international humanitarian law."

“These mass demolitions raise serious concerns about the prohibition on forced evictions under international human rights law, and Israel’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of Palestinians to adequate housing and freedom from arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family and home,” said a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).